Enhancing educational opportunities for ethnic minorities in Vietnam

May 26, 2021

The Signify Foundation teamed up with UNESCO and the education departments in three Vietnamese provinces to provide solar lighting to more than 5,000 students in 16 lower secondary schools.

For the ethnic minority communities in Vietnam’s remote and mountainous areas, limited access to electricity is a significant barrier to education. Poor lighting at home and in boarding facilities can negatively affect learning. Additionally, many students need to walk unlit paths to and from school.

These factors contribute to high drop-out rates: one UNESCO study shows that nearly half of the upper secondary school-aged ethnic minority children remained out of school in 2019.
 

The Signify Foundation, along with Signify Vietnam, UNESCO and the Departments of Education and Training of the Ha Giang, Ninh Thuan and Soc Trang provinces, equipped more than 5,000 ethnic minority students of 16 lower secondary schools in remote, mountainous, and disadvantaged areas with innovative lighting systems. This initiative was part of the ‘Lighting up the Future of Ethnic Minority Communities in Vietnam’ project.

The goal of the project was to improve access to education for underprivileged young people. As Nguyen The Binh, Director of Education and Training Department, Ha Giang Province says, “By providing underprivileged students with better educational resources, we encourage them to enjoy school more – and stay longer in the education system.”